Work-life balance need not be a myth

Not content with quitting over officetoxicity, Mukund Trivedy has begun a movement to make sure it doesn’t happen with anyone else

One year ago, Mukund Trivedy was an angry man. He was also a famous man, courtesy his note on LinkedIn – alleging harassment and disrespect as the reason for quitting his job at a pharmaceutical company – that had gone viral. Today, he is known for different reasons – all of which revolve around making workplaces happier, so no one has to suffer the “workplace toxicity” he did, and countless others continue to.

Trivedy’s ‘Happy Workplace’ movement (HyWe) aims to become a world movement for happy workplaces through a three-pronged strategy: “providing legal and psychiatric aid to survivors; suggesting policy level changes and guidelines to the government and offering companies solutions and means to improve diagnostics”, he says.

It might be the perfect time for such an endeavour. Trivedy cites a recent survey by Optum and 1to1help.net, which states that nearly half the employees in India suffer from stress. “The proportion of workers at high risk of suicide due to unmanaged stress has grown from 2-4 per cent in 2014 of all counselling cases to 8 per cent in 2018,” he adds. “I hope we achieve what Padman did for menstrual hygiene – encourage constructive dialogue on workplace toxicity and stress.”

Much needed, given the kind of stress stories he has seen and heard. He recounts how a colleague’s young daughter once asked him to teach her to look for a job for her father on the internet. Another time, a colleague said his wife had developed chest pains due to constant fear of losing her job. “One senior person did not get a salary for three months because his division had not achieved its targets. The worst was when an elderly person at a senior level was asked to write three reasons why he should be called ‘stupid’, during a meeting,” he says.

Clearly, something is broken in the urban Indian workplace that needs to be fixed. As automation and AI threaten jobs, and more youngsters join the workforce, the challenges for workers are mounting. Trivedy believes as much, adding that the issue is “much more critical for the new generation that has been brought up with independent thought. They are living in a world of choices. Today’s kids openly disagree with their parents. But when they enter the corporate world they suddenly realise that the focus is more on control and compliance and not freedom and empowerment.”

And no number of team outings and recreation rooms can fix this. Which is why one of Happy Workplace’s focuses will be the IT industry – specifically in Bengaluru. As a city that houses youngsters employed by an industry that is growing every day, he believes the city is at the centre of this problem. “The industry has not matured to handle and groom these youngsters. Their transition from college campus to corporate campus is not smooth. They suddenly find themselves in a place where everyone is out there to outdo each other with no support or encouragement. They need hand-holding and time to settle down,” Trivedy explains. The practice of keeping some youngsters on the bench “with no specific roles and responsibilities in anticipation of future assignments” also creates stress, because they live under constant threat of losing their jobs. Then there are other challenges – working with customers from different time zones, which “keeps them occupied at least 14-15 hours a day”, as well as the city’s traffic problem. As Trivedy says, most IT companies have a vision and roadmap for the company’s growth, but few spend time and energy in envisioning the wellbeing of their employees.

Of course, there are positive examples – practices that Trivedy hopes HyWe is able to imbue companies with. His personal experiences with SAIL and SRF are one of them – he cites how one time he was appearing for an exam on the same day as that of a management review. “I asked my boss who was the promoter of the company for leave for preparation. He not only granted me leave but also asked me to send my presentation to him so that he could present it to the leadership team,” Trivedy says. He has heard from employees of Decathlon that they can go out to play and relax during working hours. He adds: “As a policy, officers in that company can only be considered for promotion when they obtain a minimum score of team happiness. The employees are empowered to decide when to go on leave, go out for personal work or work from home, without it hampering their work.” Then there is Schneider, where people who work with clients from different time zones can decide what time to come to office, or log in from home if required. The employees can also take sabbaticals to take care of ailing parents, pursue hobbies or passions and be with their children during exams or higher studies.

With his initiative, Trivedy aims to help companies design and develop programmes that bring “pride and purpose” to boost performance and create vibrancy “where employees look forward to coming to the office every day”. Companies must revisit and revamp the entire framework of rules and policies for greater alignment between personal and the organisational goals. In particular, he believes “performance parameters must change to track and monitor intent, and not activities, and leadership must to be trained to lead with love and genuine concern for employees”. And instead of trying to control employees, they must be empowered.

Initiatives he is currently working on include creating a professional forum with like-minded professionals to provides professional help to companies and individuals to deal with workplace harassment for “amicable solutions”.

Interestingly, Trivedy’s intent is to take this movement to all segments of society. For starters, he is going to take up the cause of security guards “who are forced to work seven days a week and sometimes two shifts a day”, he says. “Their salaries are often delayed and they receive less than what they are entitled to. Who thinks about the happiness of a security guard who works in the basement of an office building for 365 days a year?”

Almost no one. Which is why Trivedy’s movement might just be on the cusp of a much-needed change.

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